drifting for animals

the way that i drift fish for animal species is basically fish 3 out on the bottom with a shamrock whistling spoon, all on a running ledger.

what i want to know is would it work if i allowed my lead to drift away from the boat before dropping the rig overboard, my bait should then fish away from the boat towards the lead and then when it reaches the lead fish back towards me, does this make sense to anyone and if so would it work??

problem with leaving your line drift back from the boat is that you increase the amount of line in the water, thus increasing the water resistance. this leadxs to your lead lifting off the bottom and fishing higher up in the water column, away from the main feeding area of fish. also a weight being dragged along the bottom at a steep angle is more likely to snag on the bottom than a rig fished relatively vertical.

i usually allow the lead to drift away from the boat/ allow the boat to drift away from the lead, and then drag the lead for a few yards every minute or so to throw up the sand and attract the fish. works well for ray and dogs, thats why i was wondering if it would work away from the boat aswell

If Im understanding this correctly Paul, you would drop your lead first whilst holding onto your trace at the boat so lead falls to the bottom but is still running between trace and reel. After an amount of line has been paid out whilst drifting you then drop your trace in the water...... so it fishes directly back to the weight and then with all becoming taut the weight then begins to drift along with the boat..... Am I understanding that right?

expertly put pete, i just couldnt word it right. yes that is exactly what im saying

Interesting...... You would need a decent weight to hold put and a lot of line on the reel but interesting alright.... Beauty of that is you would go over the same ground twice and give anything present a second bite at the cherry. In theory it sounds interesting alright. I wouldnt like doing it on a quick drift all the same....

only got to try it once, when someone else brought in by rig but the skipper called lines up before i got a chance to see if would work

I do foresee a problem with it however, if you are tackling bottom dwelling species, your rig is not going to start fishing properly as its going to be fishing through midwater for the main part of the first stage of the drift. It wont fish the bottom as such properly until it meets the lead. Might be ok in shallow water though....

I think that on the first stage you would be only dragging the bait down at a steep angle against the tide needlessly and therefore washing the most effective early scent from your bait. By the time it reaches the weight to correctly fish the bottom your bait will be almost spent. It might not be bad method to fish for pollack using a shad or jelly worm type lure though, although tackle loses may be high over the most productive pollack reefs.


Jim

thanks for all the advice lads, was just a thought that came to me but it seems that its counter productive

Might possibly be worth a try with a second weight attached to your terminal tackle to get it down sharpish..... You've got me thinking though, might do a little research on that over clean ground once I get the Orkney into the water....

well i use a spoon about 12 inchs above the bottom hook so i recon that this should hold it on the bottom. the only concern i would have is a possible loss of bite sensation, if you were lucky/unlucky enough to hook into something decent like a tope etc it would be swimming at full steam by the time you felt the fish. i think it would be ok for ray and dogs pleasure fishing but with the loss of time fishing waiting for you to drift away from the lead youd waste too much time in a match.
id only try it on perfect sand and if i felt there was any rock at all i wouldnt bother risking it.
if someone gets a chance to try it, please let me know how well it works

That method your talking about Paul does work! well it worked for me id use it when fishing for pollock any time ive tried it though it was always with a big eddystone eel and in a very slow drift. Once the weight hits the bottom reel in real slow uve no problems feeling the fish hit the lure some of the biggest pollock ive caught have fell to this method, dont c y theres no reason u could use flappers just clip on a bigger weight would be nice to hit a tope like that!! :D